1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for preventing theft of information concealed on a card, and more particularly relates to a technique for preventing undetected access to information concealed on a card such as a lottery card or a prepaid telephone card.
2. Related Art
A prepaid telephone card often conceals a special code. Similarly, a lottery ticket, a game piece, and other types of items can conceal a special code. This type of special code is meant to be seen by the purchaser of the card. This type of special code is not meant to be seen by someone who does not purchase the card.
For example, the manufacturer of a prepaid telephone card typically wants to keep the special code hidden from view, until the prepaid telephone card is purchased. A prepaid telephone card can be purchased in many retail stores today. The car d can have a special code that is hidden on the card beneath a silvery material. A person who purchases the card can scratch off the silvery material covering the special code, and then use that special code to make long distance or local telephone calls. The prepaid telephone card can allow a purchaser to use a cellular telephone for a predetermined number of minutes, for example.
The special code corresponds to a prepaid account with a predetermined amount of funds. When a number of phone calls are made, and the funds in the prepaid account are exhausted, then the card and the special code are worthless. After the purchaser scratches off the material covering the special code, the card has silvery scratch marks on it. Because of the obvious scratch marks, the purchaser would not be able to return the card to the store and get a full refund, because the store owner would know that the special code has been accessed.
With some types of cards, the funds in the prepaid account can be utilized even without physical possession of the card, once the special code is known. When a store owner sees that a prepaid telephone card has silvery scratch marks on it, the store owner would probably presume that the funds in the prepaid account had been depleted. The store owner would probably refuse to give a refund to a person trying to return a prepaid telephone card with silvery scratch marks on it.
A professional thief might be able to access the special code on a prepaid telephone card without leaving the silvery scratch marks. A professional thief might be able to purchase a prepaid telephone card, access the special code in an undetectable manner, and then return the card to the store for a full refund, because the card did not have silvery scratch marks. The professional thief could make long distance telephone calls using the special code and thereby deplete the funds in the prepaid account. After the professional thief returned the card, nobody else would know that the special code was worthless. An innocent person would go to that store and purchase that same prepaid telephone card. That innocent person would scratch off the silvery material, and then soon find out that the special code was worthless. That innocent person might then think that the telephone company that issued the prepaid card was incompetent, or might think that the store owner was dishonest, and might have trouble getting a refund for the prepaid telephone card.
A professional thief might be able to access the special code in an undetectable manner by heating the card to a predetermined temperature, carefully removing the silvery material from the card, reading the special code, and then replacing the silvery material over the special code on the card. A professional thief might be able to access the special code in an undetectable manner by shining a bright light through the card, and then reading the special code.
A similar type of special code can be concealed on a lottery ticket. In the case of a lottery ticket, the special code might correspond to lottery numbers. The lottery numbers might be winning lottery ticket numbers, or the lottery numbers might not be winning lottery ticket numbers. The professional thief can observe the numbers to see if the lottery ticket is a winning lottery ticket and then return the ticket to the store for a full refund if the lottery ticket is not a winning lottery ticket.
A special code can be concealed on a game piece. For example, a fast food restaurant might give out a free game piece with every purchase of a large soft drink. The game piece can have a special code hidden under a silvery material. The silvery material can be scratched off using a coin or a fingernail, for example. The special code might indicate that the person holding the card won a big prize, such as xe2x80x9cYOU WIN AN AUTOMOBILE.xe2x80x9d Or the special code might indicate that the person holding the card won a small prize, such as xe2x80x9cYOU WIN ONE HAMBURGER.xe2x80x9d Or the special code might indicate that the person holding the card did not win anything, by stating xe2x80x9cYOU LOSE, PLEASE TRY AGAINxe2x80x9d.
A professional thief may be part of an organization that accesses boxes of prepaid telephone cards, boxes of lottery tickets, or boxes of game pieces before those boxes arrive at any retail store.
I have found that it would be advantageous to improve the method of concealing the special code on cards, tickets, pieces, and other items, and I have found that it would be advantageous to prevent the theft of such special codes. It would be beneficial to conceal such a special code in a manner that prevented undetectable access to the special code. It would be desirable to prevent a thief from accessing the special code and then disguising the card so that a future purchaser was unaware that the special code had been previously accessed.
To solve the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure preventing theft of special codes from cards, tickets, pieces, and other items. The present invention can prevent an undetected access to the special code. The present invention can prevent the undetected access to the special code by various methods.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure for preventing the embezzlement of the prepayment card. The structure has a transparent film with a predetermined pattern attached to its one side so that it can stick to the rear face of the prepayment card on which the identification number is printed. A mark remains on the card or film when the transparent film is removed by a dishonest means, thereby preventing the prepayment card(or lottery ticket) from being sold after the identification number has been seen (or revealed), and thus preventing improper commercial transactions.
In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure for preventing the theft of information from the prepayment card. The structure has a film which is processed to have an irregular wave-shape and a handle, with the film being attached to the face of the prepayment card, with the card having an identification number, with a self destructive hologram being attached strongly by bonding material so that it is possible that a a visible or detectable mark remains on the card after the identification number is viewed. Thus the prepayment card is prevented from being recovered to its original state after the identification number is viewed. In this way, the present invention prevents the prepayment card with a reattached film label from being sold, and protects customers since every one can recognize that the information on the card has already been accessed.
And, it is another object of the present invention to provide a structure for preventing the viewing of the special code of the prepayment card, in order to avoid improper commercial transactions in advance, by not allowing the card to be sold once, viewed, and then sold again.
The present invention is intended to solve problems associated with the following issues. If the user pays an amount of money to the communication company (the wired and wireless communication company), the communication company provides the user with the telephone card electrically credited by an amount corresponding to the pre-paid money, and then the user can use a pay telephone for calls within the limits of the pre-paid money. The printed number or drawings for identifying xe2x80x9ca winnerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ca loserxe2x80x9d on a lottery ticket and the printed identification number on a prepayment card are discovered by a scratching method. In order to prevent the number from being flown out (viewed), generally a label which is sealed by thick ink to prevent see-through viewing is attached on the number. But in the use of such a scratch label, the identification number is easily flown out (seen) by a professional embezzlement group. For example, under the condition of a specific temperature the label can be separated by sharp knife to allow confirmation of win/loss of lottery ticket and to allow a recognition of an identification number, and under the condition of high luminance light the number can be seen. Thus it is possible that a lottery ticket or card can viewed without being distorted, so groups of professional criminals reselling cards has been organized to cause massive financial damage and to cause severe damage to the reputation of innocent companies. And in the case of a lottery ticket, after confirmation of win/loss by carful viewing, it is kept if it is a winner or it is restored in order to resell it if it is a loser. Until now, a card had a black bottom surface and a white upper surface, and a black identification number was printed on the White upper surface and then covered with a silver-colored material. The silver-colored material was peeled using a scratching method to view the upper surface of the card to see the identification number. That is, the structure for preventing the disclosure of the existing card identification number could have prevented the seeing through with the naked eye from the outsider, as the label or silver-colored material is attached to the upper surface of the card. But, the method as said above can allow the identification number of the card to be viewed easily by the professional embezzlement organization. That is, the density of the black bottom surface is different from the density of the black identification numbers, and the density of the silver-colored material is different from the densities of the black bottom surface and the black identification numbers. If the specialist has seen through the card with a very bright light of high intensity and thus made use of such special light or instrument, the outlines of each of the printing faces having the different densities will have been visible clearly. Due to such density differences and defects of design, theft and embezzlement have happened frequently. Therefore, after the embezzlement has happened so that the identification number of the prepayment card is disclosed by the professional crime organization, the user to purchases the card with a sum of money paid by fair means, and the user is the victim since the identification number was previously accessed. Also, the telecommunication company selling the prepayment card has lost the confidence of the consumer as the company""s image has been damaged by the prepayment card""s embezzlement by the professional crime organization. Therefore, the problem is that both the good citizen and the telecommunication company have been damaged very much.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: forming a first adhesive layer between a front surface of a card and a rear surface of a portion bearing a holographic image, the card bearing an identification number, the portion bearing the holographic image being adhered to the card to cover the identification number; forming a removable tape separation handle at an edge of the card, the tape separation handle being connected to the card by a plurality of curved projections, the tape separation handle being removed from the card when the curved projections are cut; and forming a second adhesive layer between a transparent film and a front surface of the portion bearing the holographic image, the second adhesive layer being formed to display at least one mark when the transparent film is separated from the portion bearing the holographic image.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: forming a first adhesive layer between a front surface of a card and a rear surface of unit bearing a holographic image, the card bearing an identification number, the unit bearing the holographic image being adhered to the card to cover the identification number; forming a removable tape separation handle at an edge of the card, the tape separation handle being connected to the card by a plurality of curved projections, the tape separation handle being removed from the card when the curved projections are cut; and forming an additional adhesive layer between a transparent film and a front surface of the unit bearing the holographic image, the adhesive layer adhering to and removing a part of the unit bearing the holographic image when the transparent film is at least partially separated from the unit bearing the holographic image.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: applying an adhesive to a first portion of a film label and not applying the adhesive to a label separation handle portion of the film label; attaching the first portion of the film label over a number printing layer on a card with the adhesive, the number printing layer bearing an identification number, the film label being substantially opaque to prevent viewing of the identification number through the film label, the film label having tooth-shaped regions on at least two edges of the film label; and attaching a unit bearing a holographic image over the film label, the unit having a first part attached to the film label and having a second part attached to the card, the second part extending beyond at least one edge of the film label, the second part being separated from the first part and having tooth-shaped edges when the film label is removed from the number printing layer.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: forming a first handle at an edge of a card, the first handle being connected to the card by a plurality of projections, the first handle being removed from the card when the projections are cut; attaching a film label to a card to cover a number printing layer on the card, the number printing layer bearing an identification number, the film label having a label separation section adjacent to the first handle and having a tooth portion adjacent to the number printing layer; and displaying at least one mark adjacent to the number printing layer at a location corresponding to the tooth portion when the film label is separated from the card.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides a method, comprising: attaching a predetermined unit over a number printing layer on a card, the predetermined unit having an opaque layer adjacent to the number printing layer, the number printing layer bearing a true identification number, the opaque layer blocking viewing of the true identification number when the predetermined unit is attached on the card, the predetermined unit bearing a false identification number different from the true identification number; and attaching a portion bearing a holographic image over the predetermined unit, the portion bearing the holographic image having a first part attached to the predetermined unit and having a second part not attached to the predetermined unit, the second part extending beyond at least one edge of the predetermined unit, the second part being separated from the first part and having at least one jagged edge when the predetermined unit is separated from the card to access the true identification number.